Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Grateful Dead: Grateful Dead: Road Trips - Volume 2 Number 2

418

Grateful Dead: Grateful Dead: Road Trips - Volume 2 Number 2

By

View read count
Grateful Dead: Grateful Dead: Road Trips - Volume 2 Number 2
Road Trips Volume 2 Number 2 not only contains a complete show—2/14/68 at San Francisco's Carousel Ballroom—but in keeping with the original concept of this archive series, excerpts from other shows during The Grateful Dead's winter tour of that same year. Experimenting in a second attempt to record its follow-up Warner Bros. album Anthem of the Sun (1968), this juncture is a pivotal period for the halcyon group and these performances find The Dead on the cusp of dance band deluxe and experimental improvisers extraordinaire.

The Grateful Dead's suggestion to label president Joe Smith to conduct live recording of shows to then intermingle with studio work was revolutionary in its own way but eminently practical for the band itself: it was never truly comfortable in a studio, but at this point, was rapidly becoming fluent on stage as it mastered new originals, the likes of which comprise much of disc two.

The suite of songs including "That's It for the Other One," as well as "Spanish Jam" and the freeform "Feedback" are light years from the R&B staples fronted by vocalist/keyboardist/harpist Ron "Pigpen" McKernan—"In the Midnight Hour," "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl" and "Turn on Your Lovelight." The septet's collective enthusiasm in playing throughout provides continuity and precludes any identity crisis per se.

The latter pair of staples also appear on the bonus third disc of this set and sound equally of a piece and well-contrasted with more exploratory likes of "Dark Star," "The Eleven" and "China Cat Sunflower," all of which numbers the Dead render in a tone at once playful and probing.

While many of these recordings have been in unofficial circulation for years, Jeffrey Norman's mastering for HDCD sound makes these forty-one year recordings by road engineer Dan Healy sound pristine in clarity and resounding in depth (with some exceptions on the bonus material on disc one). The stereo separation highlights the dual drumming of Bill Kreutzmann and relative newcomer Mickey Hart.

The group's other instrumentation is precise and uncluttered, Jerry Garcia's guitar in particular as big and sharp as it ever got as he cuts a swath through the air rivaled in aggression only by bassist Lesh in these months leading to the groundbreaking Fillmore shows recorded approximately a year later.

Blair Jackson's essay including reminiscence of rhythm guitarist and vocalist Bob Weir around Grateful Dead's relationship with Neal Casady might better set the historical stage for that epoch but regardless, the Grateful Dead's instinctive prescience in preserving its work is as laudable as the current archivists and designers of Road Trips.

Track Listing

CD 1: 2-14-68 Carousel Ballroom: Morning Dew; Good Morning Little Schoolgirl; Dark Star>China Cat Sunflower>The Eleven>Turn On Your Lovelight; Bonus Tracks Early 1968: Viola Lee Blues; Beat it On Down the Line; Hurts Me Too; Dark Star. CD 2: 2-14-68 Carousel Ballroom: That's It for The Other One>New Potato Caboose>Born Cross- Eyed>Spanish Jam;Alligator>Caution (Do Not Stop on Tracks)> Feedback; In the Midnight Hour. Bonus Disc: Viola Lee Blues; Good Morning Little Schoolgirl; New Potato Caboose; Dark Star>China Cat Sunflower; The Eleven; Turn On Your Lovelight.

Personnel

Grateful Dead
band / ensemble / orchestra

Jerry Garcia: lead guitar, vocals; Bob Weir: rhythm guitar, vocals; Phil Lesh: bass guitar, vocals; Ron

Album information

Title: Grateful Dead: Road Trips - Volume 2 Number 2 | Year Released: 2009 | Record Label: Rhino

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Tramonto
John Taylor
Ki
Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii
Duality Pt: 02
Dom Franks' Strayhorn
The Sound of Raspberry
Tatsuya Yoshida / Martín Escalante

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.